Jumbo Rider’s BodyBlog

There is a thread seeking applicants for the BB.com 2008 transformation contest.  The powers that be will be selecting 5 people for the contest. I tossed my name into the ring and we will see what happens.  What I really like though are the stories of the people wanting to be contestants as well.

There are people needing to lose a ton of weight; people that have lost a ton of weight but want to get to the stage; competitors wanting to show their gains  and everything in between.  They are great stories and good people.  They are what bring me to BB.com day after day. My own story is not so bad.

43 6′4" and 370 lbs.  BF% by caliper 31% by omtron 41%  I believe the omtron.

I just accepted that I was going to be fat.  Accepted is the wrong word.  I gave up on myself.  Suffering from depression and diabetes  and having a family history of early death by cancer gave me an eat, drink and be merry attitude.  The more miserable I got the more I hoped the reaper would come.  I ceased to live.

Yeah, I would go through the motions of living.  Work, eat, TV and sleep.  That had become my life.  When you are too big to fit in an airplane seat or ride a carnival ride, or when you go to specific movie theaters because you know they have armrests that lift up to give more room, you know you are too fat.  But it did not matter to me.

Then my daughter tells me that she is pregnant.  Through my prime example I have shown my family how to be fat.  I was not going to show my grand baby the same example.  I need to break the cycle.  Preaching will do nothing to solve the situation, only doing.  So I am driven to become fit and to live again.   It is up to me to show my family how.

Feeling pretty good.  I have eaten clean long enough that the headaches and cravings are gone.  The most amazing thing that I have done was drink water.  I used to drink 3 two liters of diet Pepsi a day.  There is nothing like poisoning your system eh?  Now I drink nothing but water and green tea.  If nothing else changes in my life, this has been good.

1. 1 cup cottage cheese 1/2 cup pineapple 1/2 cup carrots

2. 2 cups spinach 1/2 once feta cheese 5 oz turkey

3. 4 oz turkey 1/2 cup acorn squash

4. 1 cup cottage cheese 1 apple

5. feta cheese burgers 14 oz+ mushrooms + romaine spinach salad

I honestly love being in the water.  Being a rotund man I used to be embarrassed, but I guess I am over that now.  Well I don’t swim like I used to.  Actually, I did more kickboard than actual swimming, but it is a start and a good 100% body workout.  I really feel it tonight.

Food Today:

1 cup cottage cheese + 1 oz almonds + 1 large apple

4 oz tuna + 2 cups salad (lettuce, onion, mushroom, balsamic vinegar, olive oil)

4 oz tuna + 1 cup of carrots

1 cup yogurt +apple +1 cup carrots

4 oz turkey + 1 cup acorn squash + 1 cup cottage cheese

I am back to my focused ways.  Found out that my gym gives a break to vets and that saved me a bundle.  A tip of my hat to folks at St. Peter’s RecPlex and the City as well.  It feels good knowing that those years of my life were remembered, even in a small way.

Food today:

1 cup of plain yogurt, 1/2 cup of pineapple, 1 oz mixed almond/walnut/pecan

1 large apple

6 oz tuna fish, .5 oz horseradish, 4 sticks of celery, 1 cup salad with onion mushroom olive oil and balsamic vinegar

1 cup of plain yogurt, 1 large apple, 1 oz mixed nuts

12 oz sirloin, 1 cup mushrooms, .5 cup onion 1tsp butter

I will be listing my food intake trying to keep myself accountable.

Tomorrow I will start the day off with 30 minutes of active swimming.    I am doing deep knee bends every time I get up from sitting.  It is all comming together.  I will reach my goal.

Yesterday started on a good not.  My food intake was great.  My work was productive.  Then I got home and sat in front of the TV.  That was all she wrote.  As my daughter pumped in frozen pizza’s I found I could not resist and jumped right in.   What icecream too?  Never mind the fact that I took in more calories of negligible nutritional value than some 3rd world children take in a month.

I am back at it again.  No sitting in front of the TV.  If my kids want pizza they need to get it from outside of the home and not bring it home.   BLAH!

It was like I was a 12th century scientist being told the earth was actually round when Coach introduced me to the concept of the blood type diet.  You can be assured that the concept of eating according to my blood type seems ludicrous to me. But I enlisted the services of Coach because he knows a great deal and will follow the blood type diet to the best of my ability.  Today is the first day of being clean according to this diet.

You can find some information about the blood type diet here and here .

Beyond not eating the ‘avoid’ food for my blood type, I am also eliminating carbohydrates  other than vegetables (no potato) and a small amount of fruit.  I will be eating per the PN system of meals every 3 hours consisting of protein and vegetables.

In the end it is eating good whole foods with just a few more restrictions.

My exercise for the next week will simply be swimming for 30 minutes at a continuous and strenuous clip and being active around the house.

Yesterday I was back at work.   I had prepared my meals and was ready to roll when I get a dreaded call.  An appointment scheduled at the same time as my next feeding.  Cue evil music, and mark a non-compliance.

After the meeting I went home kicking myself for not succeeding in a compliance day.  My one major goal and I was cheated out of my success.  When I get home Cheryl, my wife, could tell that I was miffed and asked what was wrong.  I told her and she stared straight through me.  She does this if she is deep in thought or thinks that I am a bumbling idiot and is trying to break the news to me without bruising my ego.  "When was your appointment?", she asked.  "At 4, right at my next feeding and now I at 2 hours late.", I replied with proper indignation.  "Couldn’t you have eaten at 3 or 3:30?", she countered softly.   Well crap, now that you mention it I am supposed to eat every 2-3 hours.  What a boob I had been.

Not all things about this plan have to do with what and when I eat.  Much of the plan has to do with my views on eating and how I prepare.  I no longer eat meals, I fuel the engine.  In order to make that fuel the best it can be, IE 99% high octane, I eat protein and veggies every 2-3 hours.  The rules are simple.  My rigid application of 3 hours cost me a day of compliance.  If I would have prepared myself for the feeding interruption eventuality (FIE) I would have been successful. My failure in compliance was not because I had an unplanned appointment thrust upon me, but because I had failed to fully plan and prepare.

What am I doing differently today?  I am planning to feed every 2.5 hours instead of every 3 hours.  This gives me 30 minutes late or early to eat my meals.  That is all.  Pretty simple huh?